It's the most wonderful time of the year..... Almost. We have to get ready for it first!
Beginning today (or last night if you went to a vigil Mass), we are in the liturgical season of Advent. From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Website: "Beginning the Church's liturgical year, Advent (from, "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to") is the season encompassing the four Sundays (and weekdays) leading up to the celebration of Christmas. The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. The final days of Advent, from December 17 to December 24, focus particularly on our preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas)."
While the rest of the world is well into their Christmas season right about now and will continue to be until around December 26th, we as Catholics, as well as many Protestants, have just begun our preparation for the Christmas season, and our celebrating doesn't end until at least January 6th (Epiphany)!! Advent is a time of preparation. We prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for His coming again, for the celebration of His holy Birth at Christmas, and for the little moments in which we meet Him throughout our day. The following are a few ways to get the most out of this Advent season and truly experience the preparation for Christ's coming. And just like Lenten practices, our new good habits don't need to stop when the liturgical season ends :-)
Preparing for His birth:
Go to Confession (or if you can't get there because of COVID-19, confess your sins to Jesus in prayer and say an Act of Contrition with a resolve to get to sacramental Confession as on as possible)
Receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Make a Jesse Tree (This is a wonderful explanation)
Use a scriptural Advent Calander
Read or listen to an Advent devotional each day. (There are some nice ones online or on Youtube. Make sure you find a Catholic one!)
Do something nice for someone who's going to have a baby
Read the Nativity story (Matthew 1:18-25 or Luke 1- 2:20)
Set up a Nativity scene in your Home
Preparing for His Second Coming:
Go to Confession (or if you can't get there because of COVID-19, confess your sins to Jesus in prayer and say an Act of Contrition with a resolve to get to sacramental Confession as on as possible)
Receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Keep your soul in a state of Grace!
Don't get sucked into all the end-time prophecies and people on Youtube who think that Jesus is coming back soon just because there's a pandemic. I'm sure that they mean well, but Jesus said that we will not know the day, nor the hour at which He will return in His glory. Presumably, that includes the people on Youtube as well as us.
Pray the Rosary
Encounter Christ in the everyday moments of your life so that when He comes back again, you will know Him and He will know you.
Pray for the world!
Preparing for encounters with Christ in everyday life:
Go to Confession (or if you can't get there because of COVID-19, confess your sins to Jesus in prayer and say an Act of Contrition with a resolve to get to sacramental Confession as on as possible)
Receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Form a prayer routine. Pray in the morning, before bed, throughout your day, at school, at home, right now. (Seriously, go pray and come back to read this later!!)
Go to Adoration as frequently as possible
Seek Christ in those around you
Serve Him by living a life of Love
Pray, pray, pray!
Read a devotional
Love everyone, no matter who they are or what they've done, because Christ lives in each and every one of us.
Remember that even though our world has already gone wild with lights, Santa, glitter, shopping, and reindeer, the true joy of Christmas and of the Advent season lies in Jesus Christ, and not in the things of this world, no matter how wonderful they are! It is He who we prepare to celebrate on Christmas during this liturgical season. We can't truly enjoy the gift and joy that Christ brings at Christmas unless we have prepared our hearts to receive it. That's what Advent is all about :-)
Have a very blessed and happy Advent season!
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